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Wednesday 2:30pm - 9pm Thursday 6:30pm - 9:30pm

Swansea Railway Modellers Group

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Swansea (Abertawe), Wales
Swansea Railway Modellers Group

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Swansea Railway Modellers Group (SRMG) has been active in Swansea for nearly 20 years and is the result of the merger of 2 other modelling groups.

There is, however, a longer history of model railway clubs in the Swansea area. The Club’s premises are at 300 Carmarthen Road where the whole of the top floor and two other rooms are occupied. The main Club night is on Thursday evenings from about 6.30pm to 9.30pm. As SRMG’s membership has grown use is now being made of the premises at other times. A small group of members visit on Wednesdays too, from about 6.00pm. Others busy working on layout construction or running detailed trains frequently attend at even quieter times as the Club is fortunate in being able to use its premises 7 days per week. The Club has many layouts; St David’s Wells is the oldest – a 4mm inverted figure of 8 finished to a high standard. Elsbridge, another 4mm project, features the Thomas the Tank Engine Series and is a favourite with very young visitors. A new 4mm layout will begin soon. Cwmfelin Parkway is an N Gauge project being rebuilt form an earlier uncompleted layout whilst Box Station is a more ambitious attempt, again in N Gauge, to model the area between Chippenham and Bath. Dusty Roads is a small G-scale layout enabling trains to be run on 3 circuits. A long-term project is to build South Dock in 7mm to model this area of Swansea over several time periods. The most popular running area is a series of test tracks – 3 in N Gauge, 6 in 00 Gauge and 2 in 0 Gauge. This area allows members to run long trains – beyond the traditional scope of most members’ home premises. There are also members with interests in P4, T and Z Gauge so the Club can cater for most railway modellers’ interests. SRMG adopts a pro-active stance to railway modelling; it holds regular lectures, stock sales, Open Evenings and has organised several excursions during the last couple of years. In 2015 the Club organised the 6th Swansea Model Railway Show at The National Waterfront Museum after assisting museum staff in previous years. The introduction of designer clothing has helped to unify the Club’s membership. SRMG is a friendly Club with members of all ages, coming from all walks of life, and living in and around Swansea, Gower, Llanelli, Neath and Port Talbot. The Club remains supportive of local charity, Friends of The Young Disabled – the principal occupants of 300 Carmarthen Road.

30/10/2026

05/10/2026

https://srmg.org.uk/news-blog/2026/10/5/club-update-september-2027

COMMENT Not a huge amount to report on this month but, first, best wishes to the Club’s Membership Secretary Mike Lloyd who is recovering from a recent knee operation. We don’t know when Mike will be back in harness but hopefully it won’t be too long. Most of this month’s activity has been g...

03/10/2026

This month's quick conversion......

For detailing layouts, period vehicles can be difficult to acquire. Diecast models tend to be late [and shiny!] '40s-on and whilst a limited range of white-metal kits are available, they can be expensive. This quick project was a simple alternative and cost no more than the decals.

The origins of this quick little conversion will be obvious to those of a certain age: a Matchbox ‘Models of Yesteryear’ 4 ton Leyland van in the Jacob’s biscuit livery. This was the only livery that this vehicle was released in and it was available in the late ‘50s / early ‘60s.

The toy was modelled to approximately 1:100, closer (but still smaller) to HO than OO but, being quite a large prototype, it works in OO nevertheless. Alongside the Merit 1:76 Thornycroft kit it does not look out of place.

The GWR did not use Leyland vans, preferring Thornycroft, AEC and others in the main. However, with two of these Matchbox vans in the bits box, doing nothing, I decided to see what could be done with the more battered one.

The conversion was straightforward: little more than drill out the rivet that held the roof, strip all of the parts, fabricate a convincing chassis, replace the front axle, add steps, handles, headlights, cab fittings and various other detail parts and then paint and varnish. With the exception of the sump and lower crank case mouldings, the rest was scratch built or adapted from other parts.

Decals were by Fox Transfers and the advertising posters were photographic reproductions, reduced to fit. The disk wheels are supposed to be red, but I may well paint them brown later.

18/09/2026

Less than 17 hours to go before we open the door to our 2026 model railway exhibition at LC Swansea.

14/09/2026

Our show guides have arrived featuring The Model Railway Club's magnificent Copenhagen Fields on the cover! See this and many other fabulouse layouts on display this weekend at the LC Swansea.

10/09/2026

After many years of successful shows, the Club is excited to present its 14th. annual event on the 19th and 20th September at the LC2 in Swansea. All of the arrangements are now in place and the tables are almost laid!

As usual, an interesting and memorable variety of layouts in various gauges will be on display, including the iconic ‘Copenhagen Fields’, and traders and societies will have a good presence, too.

The Club’s show team has worked tirelessly for ten months to bring this year’s event to fruition. The personal cost in terms of time and commitment has been huge however, with many hours occupied in ensuring that the logistics involved in managing such a large event were effective and much problem-solving and replanning was necessary, often at very short notice.

Consequently, with members of the team having been involved over so many years, we have decided to take a break and there will be no major event planned for 2027. We know that will be a disappointment to many, but are sure that you can understand that our batteries occasionally need recharging!

But, see you all at this year’s show, it won't be one to miss!

05/09/2026

A truly extraordinary afternoon and, I guess, a new one for all of us. The club shared its late summer outing with members of Neath Historical Society and visited the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway’s Steam Gala.

Seen here a few miles out on the return from Welshpool to Llanfair is Manning Wardle 1877 0-6-2 on an unscheduled stop. We spent around half-an-hour here after it had been discovered that the train staff for occupying the single track section had been lost. We don’t know how but it appeared to have exited the cab, somehow, around half-a-mile back down the line!

Still, the sun was shining!

10/08/2026

https://srmg.org.uk/news-blog/2026/8/10/club-update-julyaugust

COMMENT The late Gareth Lewis’ funeral service at Margam was well attended by club members earlier this month and thank you to those who were able to be there: it was appreciated by Gareth’s family. The family have asked the club to assist in the disposal of Gareth’s large railway collection a...

26/06/2026

Another fantastic evening at Norton House Hotel | Weddings & Bistro with special guest Eloise from Oxford Diecast. Amazing food, great entertainment and a brilliant end to the brutal heat we’ve had this week.

Address

Top Floor, 300 Carmarthen Road
Swansea
SA58NJ

Opening Hours

Wednesday	2:30pm - 9pm
Thursday	6:30pm - 9:30pm

Website

http://www.srmg.org.uk/

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